Hydraulic fracturing is a common technique for extracting hydrocarbons from reservoirs in earth formations. In hydraulic fracturing, certain types of liquids are injected into boreholes that penetrate the earth formations at pressures that are high enough to fracture the formation rock. The fractured rock creates spaces that are interconnected and allow the hydrocarbons of interest to flow for extraction purposes.
In order to create a large number of fractures needed to extract the hydrocarbons, high pressure and high flow pumps are required to inject the fracturing liquids. For example, the pumps may be required to pump over 70 gallons per second of the liquid at pressures over 15,000 psi and require over 2000 hp to run at these specifications. In many instances, electric motors may be called upon to operate these types of pumps.
Hydraulic fracturing operations can be very expensive and any down time can only increase the operating costs. Hence, reliable electric motors to operate fracturing pumps would be well received in the hydraulic fracturing industry.